A new partnership of biologists and mathematicians is picking apart the hidden complexity of animals and plants to throw fresh light on the behaviour of entire organisms, how they interact and how changes in biological diversity affect the planet’s ecological balance. Mathematics offers new and sometimes startling perspectives on evolution and how patterns of inheritance and population work out over time-scales ranging from millions to hundreds of years – as well as what’s going on to change us right now.
Ian Stewart, in characteristically clear and entertaining fashion, explores these and a whole range of pertinent issues, including how far genes control behaviour and the nature of life itself. He shows how far mathematicians and biologists are succeeding in tackling some of the most difficult scientific problems the human race has ever confronted and where their research is currently taking us.
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Ian Stewart is Professor Emeritus of Mathematics atthe University of Warwick and the author of the bestseller Professor Stewart’s Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities.His recent books include Do Dice Play God?, Significant Figures, Professor Stewart’s Incredible Numbers, Seventeen Equations that Changed the World, Professor Stewart’s Casebook of Mathematical Mysteries and Calculating the Cosmos.He is a Fellow of the Royal Society.